Abstract
Technical reports have always posed problems for libraries and librarians. They are often bibliographically inconsistent, difficult to source, and published to varying standards of quality. In some science and technical fields, these reports are also large in number and central in importance. Additionally, established workflows for acquiring and preserving technical reports in distributed repositories have been undermined by the transition from print to digital. Overall, the "grey literature" challenges librarians face have increased.
This paper presents three case studies of how academic libraries have found innovative ways to face the problems of technical reports and improve their production, dissemination, and preservation; thus reducing the duplication of research efforts and saving public funds. Transportation is one example of the disciplines where these described changes are taking place, and the opportunities for libraries to improve the technical report workflow in this field will be a particular focus of the session.
Readers can expect to learn about the challenges of handling technical reports in the digital age and the opportunities that exist for improving discoverability and dissemination in the networked environment. A particular focus will be on new roles for libraries and librarians, and how library publishing and data management services can offer new opportunities for partnerships with researchers.
Moving Technical Reports Forward
Technical reports have always posed problems for libraries and librarians. They are often bibliographically inconsistent, difficult to source, and published to varying standards of quality. In some science and technical fields, these reports are also large in number and central in importance. Additionally, established workflows for acquiring and preserving technical reports in distributed repositories have been undermined by the transition from print to digital. Overall, the "grey literature" challenges librarians face have increased.
This paper presents three case studies of how academic libraries have found innovative ways to face the problems of technical reports and improve their production, dissemination, and preservation; thus reducing the duplication of research efforts and saving public funds. Transportation is one example of the disciplines where these described changes are taking place, and the opportunities for libraries to improve the technical report workflow in this field will be a particular focus of the session.
Readers can expect to learn about the challenges of handling technical reports in the digital age and the opportunities that exist for improving discoverability and dissemination in the networked environment. A particular focus will be on new roles for libraries and librarians, and how library publishing and data management services can offer new opportunities for partnerships with researchers.